Beyond These Walls
by Dancing Inks
Summary: He failed, the village, Sakura, himself; and in his distress, plumets to the very bottom. Anko takes him away, out of the Elemental Nations, what will he find Beyond These Walls? Can he accomplish her dying wish and succeed where she had failed...


Yo! Second story, to those waiting for an update on the other one, yea its coming eventually, I've backed myself into a corner and need a transition to get me back on track. Anyway, here is the prologue for a story that I hope will catch on. It will be, chapter length wise, much longer when we get to the chapters for this one. Again just playing with ideas, please enjoy.

I do not, cannot, and will not, own Naruto. Just not gunna happen, unless I name my cat Naruto and that's a little different now isn't it? Without further adieu, Beyond these Walls.

'I failed.' He looked around at the ruin of his home; the wreckage of the old furniture scattered about, the shards of the door to his bathroom, scorch marks and holes from weapons and fire. A water spot in his ceiling occasionally leaked into his room, and the sound of the cracked piping hissing could be clearly heard through out the apartment.

Sitting in the ruins of his home, naked save for a pair of shorts, torn and well worn, Naruto brought the kunai to his wrist again, feeling the bite and pull of the dulled blade. He reveled in the sting and the warm blood that seeped from his wrists, his blurry eyes glaring when the cut promptly closed.

"Let me die, you dumb fuck; just let me die…" He had failed. He couldn't keep his promise to Sakura, and Sasuke was now gone; somewhere being corrupted by Orochimaru. Disaster after disaster, the invasion, the Suna Jinchuriki, and then the failed attempt at stopping Sasuke; all disasters. He remembered waking in the white sterilized room of the hospital. He should have been dead. 'Why won't you just let me die…?'

Shortly after being cleared for active duty, he began to lose focus, and missions came less and less for his weakened team. Eventually Sakura and Kakashi began missions without telling Naruto to come with them. The money ran out, the apartment fell apart, and his only companions where uncontrollable rage and despair.

Methodically he pulled the blade across his wrists again, the pool of blood around him steadily gathering. Soon the creature within would knock him out; he was running out of blood and it would not allow him to die. He sat, his starved and beaten body sliding down further as his sense began to dull. He didn't even move when the outside door slammed against the wall as it was thrown open.

Anko, winded and anxious, looked about the mess, searching for the blonde child. She rushed to him and pulled him into her lap, and smiled softly as cold fingers traced the scars of her own self loathing.

"Bad news punk," she muttered into his ear. "They're done with you; done with your episodes and deteriorations; it's bad for business and security. They're going to lock you away Naruto; never to see the light again, a caged animal."

"There is no light anyway…"

"Stop being such a bitch, I found some light in the end, and so will you. But not here and not now." She pulled him closer to her chest, lamenting the loss of the cheer and banter she had shared with her favorite person; the only person to have felt the pain of exclusion and hatred. "You remind me of myself when I was your age, except I have a vagina and unless there is something you need to tell, you don't."

Her attempt of humor brought a tiny smile to his face. Choking back a sob, she rummaged in her deep pockets for a blood pill and soldier pill, gently pushing them between his lips. Immediately he began to warm and regain failing motor control.

"Come along then, we gotta get you ready. I wont see you hidden away to rot in the darkness, not like I did." She tried to help him stand, but he was too weak, he had lost to much blood and even the blood pills and soldier pill needed some time to begin working effectively. Gently she lifted his light frame and carried him to the mound of clothes that he had scattered about the room. Quickly she pulled out a set of clothes, in shades of dark greens and blacks. She was careful to not get them in the blood that covered the boy and her jacket.

Once she had gathered all the things she believed he would need, she vanished in a violent swirl of leaves and dust. Anko reappeared in her own apartment, the windows closed and blocked by the pulled shades. Naruto was still a groggy, sluggish and unable to move on his own. Gently she placed him upon her small couch, tossing the supplies she gathered on a table nearby, already covered in other supplies.

Swiftly she shrugged off her jacket and turned on the hot water for a shower. Satisfied with the temperature she returned to find Naruto trying to shake the haze from his eyes and falling as he tried to stand.

"Idiot." She muttered, pushing him into the couch and removing his shorts, his eyes showing only confusion as he tried to regain control of his body. "Shut up. We need to go and as you are they will track you." She quickly stripped and supported the blond boy, encouraging his attempt at getting his legs to move, and helped him into the shower.

Quickly, she washed him, removing all traces of filth and blood from his bruised body, and using unscented soaps to remove any scent that would make him easy to track. Once she finished with him, she leaned him carefully against the wall and began to wash the blood off herself and used the unscented soaps as well.

Naruto was finally able to move on his own when she led him into the bedroom, and began to towel himself off.

"Anko…I don't…wha-"

"Naruto, we don't have time, please!" her movement were jerky as she rushed to dress herself, then handed the confused blond black shorts and a dark green shirt. "Dress now!" she flew from the room back to the supplies she had gathered for him and began sealing them into a scroll. She spun around, hand seeking a weapon when she heard someone enter the room, and sighed when Naruto slowly walked into the room, his blue eyes wide and scared.

"Anko, where will I go?" he almost concealed the tremble in his voice. She turned back to her task, carefully sealing away clothes, weapons, food, and medical supplies into the huge scroll.

"I have gotten a slot on a ship that is leaving from the port in the land of Waves, we…we are going to take that boat and wait for this hole nonsense to blow over. Don't worry I'll…be with you. Now hurry up and get a coat from the closet, second door down the hall between bathroom and bedroom. Hurry Naruto! We need every minute we can spare before they come for you in the early morning!"

She heard him run down the hall, and she pulled out a small scroll, her scratched writing painfully insufficient in her mind. She sealed it into the scroll and rolled it up, standing it on its end. It was nearly three feet tall on its end, and about eight inches thick.

"That'll have to due." She breathed. She rushed to the closet here she found Naruto looking around distraught. She sighed and reached around him, pulling from the far back a similar coat to the one she was known for, though it was smaller and clearly worn in and a forest green colour. "Take this, it doesn't fit me anymore and you are going to need it." She helped him into it, and then strapped the large scroll to his back. She grabbed one of her other trench coats and ran to a window checking outside for anyone.

"Clear. Alright, we are going to run, and I mean run boy. We need to get as far from here as we can." She slung a pack over her shoulder, checking the window again. "Ready?"

"Anko…I…"

"Come on, I'll get you out of here."

"But what about you're reputation?" she scoffed.

"Stop being stupid; now are you ready?" he nodded with a sigh, and they took off into the night, shadows moving within shadows, racing across the village and out into the night. They ran long and hard, popping pills to keep up their strength and speed. But they had to stop, and when they did it was to relieve themselves and catch a few hours rest before setting off again at the same frantic pace.

Finally after two days they arrived at the port. Naruto stood on unstable legs as Anko spoke with a man near a strange looking ship. It was bound for the south beyond the elemental nations. Fear gripped his young heart. Very few ventured that way, so much was unknown, but at least he'd have Anko. He watched as she pointed to him and then went back to speaking with the man he assumed was the captain of the ship.

Eventually she walked back to him and led him onto the ship, and to spot nestled by lengths of rope on the deck. He plopped down, and sighed, fighting to keep his eyes open as Anko placed her pack on the ground and then went about helping the ship prepare to leave. The smell of salt, the gentle breeze and sway of the ship whittled away at his resolve to remain awake.

When he opened his eyes, it was dark again, the sun just dipping behind the horizon, the light slowly fading away. Anko sat next to him holding his head to her chest and keeping him warm with her coat tossed over them. Soft creaks and the occasional soft voice of the sailors around him were all that he could hear. Suddenly Anko stiffened beside him. With a curse she jumped up and ran to railing. Sure enough there was a man running on the water towards them.

"Damn they found us." Anko cursed. Suddenly she turned to face Naruto, who stood by her side. "Looks like this is as far as I go kid, but you're strong I know you'll make it.

Alarm crashed through his senses. "Anko?! Wait, what do you mean?!" He clutched at her coat, his fingers curling around the fabric. She kneeled before him, and placing her hand on the sides of his head kissed him. Naruto opened his mouth in shock, and she pushed something into his mouth with her tongue and he involuntarily swallowed it.

Immediately he began to feel drowsy, and fought to remain awake. "Grow strong Naruto, and live a good life." She kissed him again then tossed him back against the coils of rope. As his senses failed him again, he saw her stand upon the railing, chakra visibly radiating off her lithe form, her slender arm pointed at the ANBU as he rushed up to the ship.

"FUCK YOU!!" and she leapt from the railing, and all he could see was the right star that her chakra left on his vision before he passed out.

Naruto was floating in the dark, nothing to gain his bearings, nothing to tell him where he was, no sounds or smells, just absolute dark. He didn't know how long he floated, but it felt like an eternity, entirely alone in his panic and then sorrow. A light appeared, growing brighter and brighter before him, and then Anko was before him. Her feral grin, and mischievous eyes. He was warm, and happy, someone knew him, someone recognized him and helped him. She was all that mattered anymore, since he failed Sakura and the village and Sasuke's betrayal.

She smiled at him, and then she began to fade. He called out stretching to grasp her hand as she turned and walked into the nothing. One look over her shoulder, tears in her eyes, she spoke, "Live on Naruto, live and become what I could not…" And his heart shattered again, his chest reopened from Sasuke's betrayal, the pain of his team's rejections. 'I don't want to be alone; I don't want to be alone…

"I don't want to be alone!" he sat up and sobbed, an unfamiliar person pat his back gently, whispering that it would all be okay.

"I don't know what was after you kid, but you're mother stopped them, and we will get you to where she wanted you to go…we wont let her death mean nothing for your escape." The realization was like a punch to the gut, the last person to ever understand him, and the only one who could really empathize with him, was now dead with all the others. He was alone, again, and he had no idea what he should.

The man left him to his misery, and he smiled slightly. "My…mother…heh…I guess she was like a mother to me…and at the same time…greater." He curled into a ball nestled amongst the rope coils, facing forward into the expanses of the blue ocean.

"Goodbye, Anko…mom…" silently he wept, watching the clouds and eventually the twinkle of the stars as night fell. One shined brighter then all the others, seeming to wink at him from above, and then its light dulled and finally disappeared from the night sky.

_The death of a star, leads to the birth of another, Beyond These Walls._


End file.
